Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee
are to work on a farm in a new reality TV show.
The couple will join model and recovering cocaine addict Sophie Anderton on The Farm.
The Ch Five show will see nine celebrities face the harsh realities of life on a working Wiltshire farm.
They will wake at the crack of dawn to milk cows, collect chicken eggs, herd the pigs and do the mucking out.
The celebrities will spend three weeks living in a barn in the farmyard, and be nominated for eviction from TV viewers when the show goes out at the end of September.
David Beckham's former PA Rebecca Loos is also thought to be close to signing a deal to join the programme, being made by Endemol, the TV company behind Big Brother.
Daniels, 66, said he hoped the experience would "introduce us townies to the countryside, the hard work of the farming community, and even make the food chain real".
He added: "In other words, this is interesting. Having visited a couple of farms for the photoshoot for the show, it is obvious that my ideas of being a gentleman farmer will have to go out of the window."
McGee said: "I don't know anything about farming and I am looking forward to the learning process. "Apart from in the magic shows, I have never had any contact with animals and, whereas I am not frightened of them, I just don't know what to do with them, or be with them as yet."
Anderton said she was "delighted" to be involved. She added: "Farmers have one of the hardest jobs going, the early mornings, the late nights not to mention the mucking out.
"It will certainly be a complete culture shock for me".
The celebrities will nominate a farm manager from within the group who becomes immune from eviction but undertakes the most gruelling tasks.
They will have to pluck and gut chickens, dag sheep (cut away the dried faeces from the wool) and dehorn and tag calves.
Failure to complete the tasks will leave the celebrities without coal, which gives them hot water for washing, heating the farmhouse and cooking.
Five's last high-profile reality show, Back to Reality, was not the success the channel hoped for.
The channel's controller of features and entertainment Ben Frow, said: "The Farm is a factual entertainment series where city people experience first-hand the tough reality of rural living as well as addressing such issues as where our food comes from and self sufficiency."
Daily Mail
